Be Adventurous: Go Really Retro with Your Interiors

I bet a lot of us don’t think of our interior as being a fad. But it is. Remember “shabby chic”? How many of you still have whitewashed fences in your homes? If you’re really old, like me (ha, ha), then you remember the Early American interior decorating style of the 1970s. It makes you wonder what current style will seem so extremely “outdated” soon.

I think the interesting thing about renovation and retro style is all the parts of it we don’t address like truly recreating the house with interior design that matches the trends of the period. This picture shows that 1950s interior “rules” were much different from today. The 1950s interiors were focused on traffic flow and not seating and conversation groups like most interiors are today.

At our 1950s house, we attempted a more contemporary furniture arrangement for about three years. We moved and rearranged groups of furniture and it never felt right. Then one day while looking through my 1950s interior design books I found this picture … with the furniture arrangement done in what later designers would call “spin art” interior. This technique consists of putting all your furniture against the wall.

There are conversation groups, but the emphasis is on people walking through the room, not sitting in it. Lifestyle can play an important part in why we change interior design styles. I’m not sure what the motivation would be to make travel more important than hanging out in a room, but perhaps large parties with activities were more the motivation.

While looking at the interior design plan, I realized we had never arranged our furniture that way. Our long rectangular living room (much like in the picture) always had awkward spots. So, we arranged all of the furniture out to the sides of the room and it’s never been better. We’ve moved some of the furniture around, but for the most part it’s all around the edges with a clear path through and it works and feels much better.

The lesson we learned is to look at the style and era of your house and think about how it was designed and what the interior design fads were at the time. Then, make your interior choices based on a variety of factors, including historically how it would have been laid out, your current lifestyle, and current trends. I bet the outcome will be much more satisfying.

Photo courtesy of Frequently Wrong But Never In Doubt